1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to new compositions for coating desserts and more particularly to new coating or topping compositions having, despite prolonged contact with a gelled product having a different dry matter content, a coating texture homogeneous in time without appearance of synaeresis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous products whose purpose is to modify the rheological behavior of the aqueous medium in which they are introduced have been proposed in the prior art. Among known texture modifiers hydrocolloids extracted from natural products, such as guar flour, carob-bean flour, alginates, carrageenan and xanthan gum are widely used: they are designated in the laws in force in France under the name "thickening and gelling agents".
The literature mentions the use of gelling products in the preparation of different food products. Thus, French Pat. No. 2 296 376 describes the use of a gelling agent of vegetable origin for preparing custards, this gelling agent being formed preferably by a mixture of Kappa, Lambda and Iota carrageenan and carob-bean flour, or by Furcellaria or agar extracts or else a mixture of carob-bean flour and xanthan gum or a similar microbial polysaccharide. This gelling agent is introduced in a proportion of the order of 0.1 to 1% of the total weight of the custard preparation, before heat treatment, with a preferred example in which the gelling agent is present in a proportion of 0.4% formed by 0.015% of Kappa carrageenan, 0.255% of Iota carrageenan, 0.1% of Lambda carrageenan and 0.03% of carob-bean flour. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,996,389 and 4,242,367 describe stabilizing gums for ice cream, iced milk desserts and water ices; the second of these patents recommends a stabilizing composition comprising 53-68% of guar flour, 20-35% of xanthan gum, 9-13% of carrageenan and 0 to 5% of carob-bean flour; this stabilizing agent is present in the product to be stabilized in a proportion of 0.14 to 0.25% by weight, which ensures stabilization of the product for ten days which is considered as sufficient for commercializing the product. Iota and Kappa carrageenan are preferred because of their gelling properties. French certificate of addition 2357 188 recommends the use of gelling compositions for aqueous or milk food products and more especially for yoghurt, which comprise a mixture of at least one gelling agent formed by a polysaccharide such as agar, pectin, furcellarane, carrageenan or xanthan and a second gelling agent formed by a galactomannan which has a viscosity in a 1% solution of 10 to 1000 centipoises at 25.degree. C, which is chosen from the group comprising carob-bean, tara and Espina corona extracts. The gelling agent is added to the product to be gelled in a proportion of 0.4% and the main ingredient of the gelling mixture is carbo-bean flour, which is present in a proportion of 55 to 75% whereas the carrageenan may possibly be present in a low proportion of the order of 5% and it is not mentioned that they may be present in the mixture in association with xanthan.
The above analysis of the prior art shows that the prior art sought essentially to prepare stable food products with a gel texture, which do not present synaeresis at least for a predetermined lapse of time; now, if gelling is necessary for preparing a custard for example, such gelling is not required for the product coating these custards which must be not gelled but thickened and which must, after prolonged contact with a gelled product having a different dry matter content, not present synaeresis and must conserve a coating texture homogeneous at least until the latest date at which the food product may be consumed.
In fact, traditional coatings, with high dry matter content, have the great disadvantage that their viscosity, once in contact with the product to be coated, decreases rapidly during time to the point of becoming, after a few days, as fluid as water. The technique proposed in French Pat. No. 2, 379 258 aims at overcoming this drawback; however, it only relates to coatings with a low dry matter content (less than 40%).